Doomsday plots, Zayn Malik in another universe and other stunning claims made by Stephen Hawking

Hawking, regarded as one of the most brilliant physicists ever, had an amazing mind that tackled everything from the origins of the universe, the possibility of time travel and the mystery of the solar system's black holes.

British physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking is no more. Professor Hawking's children, Lucy, Robert and Tim said in a statement that he had died at his home in Cambridge in the early hours of Wednesday at the age of 76, BBC reported. For much of his time in the public eye, Hawking, who was suffering from ALS was confined to a wheelchair and communicated through a computer, which he operated with his cheek.

Hawking, regarded as one of the most brilliant physicists ever, had an amazing mind that tackled everything - from the origins of the universe to the possibility of a aggression destroying civilisation and the mystery of an alternate universe. But more than his theories, what made headlines were the claims or the spooky predictions that he made.

Here are ten of his most stunning claims:

1. Artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race - Hawking told the BBC that the development of full AI could spell the end of the human race.

2. Aggression will destroy civilisation - According to CNET, Hawking said that aggression may have had a survival advantage in caveman days, but now it threatens to destroy us all.

3. Humans have less than 1,000 years left on Earth - Hawking in a surprising statement said that we must continue to go into space for humanity. We won’t survive another 1,000 years without escaping our fragile planet,’ he added.

4. Move to another planet - The human race must move to a planet beyond our Solar System to protect the future of the species, Hawking warned in 2006. He told the BBC that life could be wiped out by a nuclear disaster or an asteroid hitting the planet.

5. Zayn Malik could still be a member of One Direction in another universe - When someone asked him about the cosmological effect of Zayn Malik leaving One Direction, Hawking said that young girls should study theoretical physics as it would be a possibility that somewhere in an alternate universe Zayn is still in One Direction.

6. The human brain can exist outside the body - As quoted by the Guardian, Hawking said that the brain is like a programme in the mind, which is like a computer, so it's theoretically possible to copy the brain on to a computer and thus provide a form of life after death.

7. 'God Particle' can wipe out the universe - In the preface to a collection of essays and lectures called 'Starmus', Hawking warned that the Higgs Boson or most commonly known as God particle, could one day be responsible for the destruction of the known universe.

8. Information could escape a black hole - In 1976, Hawking calculated that once a black hole forms, it radiates energy and starts losing mass and once the hole disappears, all the information goes with it.

9. Aliens might hurt us - In a documentary, he made for the Discovery Channel, Stephen Hawking's Universe, Hawking said that if aliens ever visit us, the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans.

10. The existence of an alternate universe - Hawking in a speech in 2015 said that black holes are not the eternal prisons they were once thought as. The way out of a black hole is that it wouldn't take people back to where they’d come from. Instead, they would reappear, but somewhere else – perhaps even in an alternative universe.

Many of Hawking's comments that grabbed headlines were more futuristic than science - for instance, AI, alien contact, and the existence of an alternate universe. There was also, almost always, a tendency of an alarmist tone. Maybe everything Stephen Hawking says will come true someday but for today, with his death, the world has truly lost science's brightest star.

Doomsday plots, Zayn Malik in another universe and other stunning claims made by Stephen HawkingDescription:Hawking, regarded as one of the most brilliant physicists ever, had an amazing mind that tackled everything from the origins of the universe, the possibility of time travel and the mystery of the solar system's black holes.Times Now